“I don’t see why you have to come with me when I’m only running to the shop for a latte and a scone,” I grumbled as I slid into my riding boots.

He was waiting in the doorway to my room, and for once he didn’t criticize me for leaving it a mess.

“Only a latte and a scone?” he repeated, raising an eyebrow. One corner of his generous mouth slid up in a smile.

“What’s the look for?”

“You know what it’s for.”

“Indulge me, please.”

“You’ve been trying to decide what to wear for the last half hour.”

“How would you know? I only just opened the bedroom door.” Yes, and he was right there in the hallway when I did. “Were you listening outside the door?” I asked in horror.

“Why shouldn’t I?”

“For starters, it’s downright creepy. Like you’re stalking me.”

His forehead creased as his heavy brows drew together. “Stalking? How can I stalk when I live with you?”

“Don’t get technical with me.” I stood with a sigh, then fumbled around on my bed for the denim jacket I’d decided to wear. It had gotten lost under another hundred things I’d pulled out of the closet. “Sometimes I wish you were more like…” I trailed off, and my cheeks burned with shame.

“Elias,” he finished, sounding resigned.

“I didn’t mean to compare you two.”

“Oh, no. I’m sure.” Sarcasm dripped from his voice.

“How can I help it?” I slid into my jacket and pulled my hair out from underneath so it could rest against my back and trail over my shoulders. “He was my Nightwarden for years.” And I had loved him, which was something I didn’t see the need to bring up. But I was sure Holden could feel it when I thought about him. At least he was kind enough to never bring it up.

“I realize that was a very personal relationship,” he said, speaking slowly. “But I can’t do my job effectively if you keep comparing us.”

“Fine, sure, okay. I get it. I’ll do my best.”

If he would only be a little more reclusive. That was my favorite thing about Elias, besides… well, everything that made me fall in love with him. Holden was just as stoic and strong, and definitely just as handsome with his angelic features and a body that could pass for a heavyweight boxer’s.

But unlike Elias, he was more open. More talkative. More intrusive, and I still wondered if that had anything to do with my mother’s influence. My mother probably ordered him to spend time with me, like that would stop a sorcerer from kidnapping me again.

I stepped out into the hallway and locked the door behind us with a heavy heart.

Why did he have to come with me?

For the last three days, I had camped out at the coffee shop with my laptop and my Nightwarden in the hope of seeing him again. My literal Dream Man.

“Why don’t you admit why you want to go back and we’ll stop pretending?” Holden asked as we stepped into the elevator.

“Why don’t you leave me alone?” I countered.

“Don’t be immature.”

“Don’t talk down to me like that. I don’t know who you think you are.”

“You know exactly who I think I am.”

That did it.

I was tired of tiptoeing around with him. Just because I’d promised some unseen force that I’d be a nicer person didn’t mean I had to let him walk all over me.

“It’s none of your business, and that is a stone-cold fact,” I growled. “My private life has nothing to do with you. You exist solely to keep me safe. Do you understand?”

Silence hung between us as we plummeted down to the ground floor.

When the doors opened again, he nodded. “Understood.”

I couldn’t help feeling like shit, but he needed to remember his place.

I knew his last charge had been a lot more easy-breezy than I ever was with Elias, so he had an idea that we would be friends. He was wrong. One of us had to rein it in. I let him hold the door open for me as we walked out of the lobby, and again as we entered the coffee shop at the corner.

I swept over the room immediately on entering.

He wasn’t there.

Of course not. Every day, the possibility that I might have imagined him grew bigger and bigger.

It was my dream leaking into reality, as crazy as it sounded. No crazier than having the same dream every single night about a man I had never met, who I could only identify by a pair of eyes.

“I’ll get a seat,” Holden announced, leaving me on my own to stand in line.

I told myself it was for the best. I didn’t need any friends—and the closer we became, the more dangerous things would be for us. He couldn’t protect me if there were personal feelings involved. A business relationship was best for both of us.

I remembered the cold, aloof attitude I took toward Elias and wondered how I could ever have been so thoughtless. And I wished for the hundredth time that I could go back and apologize to him for being such a bitch.

To him and my sister, both.

My laptop bag hung over one shoulder and reminded me of the research I was pretending to do as a reason to sit for hours in front of my computer the way humans liked to. Pretentious jackasses.

It wasn’t like I hated learning more about the history of witchcraft’s evolution after our coven came to the New World, but it wasn’t my idea of a good time.

The approach of Halloween put the thought in my head, and it seemed like as good a reason as any to sit around doing research.

It was a stupid, childish excuse and I didn’t owe Holden anything—still, it provided a cover story in case anybody asked him for a report on my well-being. And something told me my mother was, on the regular.

I didn’t know how she contacted him. Cell phone, most likely. While he was in his room, alone, where I couldn’t see or hear them talking about me. It was enough to make my blood boil.

Which was why I spun so abruptly, latte in hand, and bumped into the man standing behind me. Coffee splashed out of the cup and splattered his jeans and shoes.

“Would you believe that’s the second time that’s happened to me this week?” he asked with a wry chuckle, as I scrambled for napkins.

I looked up at him as I handed them over and almost dropped my cup in surprise.

“You,” I whispered before I could stop myself.

Because it was him. I was sure of it.

The surprising thing was, he looked at me with just as much surprise.

“You,” he murmured in reply.

We shared one breathless moment before the reality of the situation trickled through, in the form of a barista asking if we’d please step aside so other customers could place their orders.

“I’m so sorry,” I breathed. “That was awful of me. Please, let me buy you a cup of coffee.”

“No, no, that’s all right. I shouldn’t have been standing so close to you. That’s what I get for not respecting personal space.” He chuckled good-naturedly.

I couldn’t help but notice the way his eyes kept grazing me, like he was just as stunned to see me as I was to see him.

“Can I at least ask you to join me?” I pointed to the table by the window where Holden waited.

Even with sunglasses covering half his face, I knew he was staring at us. And judging by the way his jaw was set, he wasn’t happy. There was a surprise.

“It looks like you already have company.”

“Oh, Holden? He’s just… my brother,” I stammered, hating myself the second it was out of my mouth.

My brother?

What was wrong with me? I was just so happy that this man existed, that I hadn’t made him up, I would’ve said anything to get him to sit with me for a little while.

“Ah. In that case, sure. I would love to.” His smile was wide, bright, perfect. Dazzling.

My insides turned to jelly at the sight of it. What was happening to me? Turning into a pile of mush because of a man’s smile. I was too old for that nonsense.

Besides, he was human. My heart sank a little.

I didn’t know what I expected—there was no aura around him when I first noticed him, either, nothing to indicate the presence of magical blood. Even so, a human was less dangerous than a sorcerer, so it was better for him to be ordinary.

“Who’s this?” Holden asked when we reached the table.

I glared at him when the stranger couldn’t see. “I invited him over when I spilled my drink on him. Promise you won’t play the protective big brother, please.”

Don’t ruin this for me. Shut up, shut up.

He only raised an eyebrow and nodded slightly, making me breathe a shaky sigh of relief.

“Holden,” he said, holding out his hand to shake.

“Gentry,” the stranger replied, shaking his hand before sitting across from me.

I couldn’t stop staring at his eyes. Just the way I had dreamed them, along with a strong jaw and square chin and that beautiful, disarming smile. I drank him in, fascinated. He existed.

And he drank me in, too, which was even more fascinating. Why did he look at me that way?

“So, Gentry. What do you do for a living that you can afford to visit a coffee shop in the middle of a weekday morning?” Holden leaned back in his chair, arms folded.

I wanted to slap him. My hand twitched.

But Gentry didn’t seem to mind. “I’m in town visiting my mother. She’s… well, she’s only got a few weeks left. Days, perhaps.”

“I’m so sorry,” I murmured as I kicked Holden under the table.

Gentry nodded slowly, looking down at his cup. “Of course, I’m looking for a new job at the moment, too.”

Holden kicked me back—not as hard as I’d kicked him, naturally.

“Doing what?” he asked.

“I’m not sure.” Gentry shrugged. “I’m at what you would call a crossroads. I drove from California and am living in my childhood apartment, if you can imagine that.”

“It sounds fascinating,” I said, cutting into whatever Holden was about to say. “I mean, driving cross country like that. I’ve always been interested in that sort of trip.”

I glanced at Holden, daring him to say anything to the contrary. He only shook his head. It wasn’t a lie, either, but he wouldn’t know that. It was easy to forget he hadn’t been with me for very long.

“What about you?” Gentry turned the tables on Holden.

I bit the inside of my mouth to keep from laughing. I could feel my Nightwarden’s anger rise.

“I work in security,” he replied smoothly.

Where had he come up with that one?

“I see.” Gentry turned to me. “What about you?”

Only when Gentry smiled at me did I realize he had been scowling at Holden. The difference was like night and day. His face lit up.

“I... I don’t do much of anything,” I admitted.

I could’ve lied. I had lied before, so many times. When I opened my mouth to tell him one of my smooth lies, one I had told so many times to so many people, I came up short. I didn’t want to lie to him. It made no sense. I didn’t even know him.

“I’m sure you have to do something,” he smiled. “Even if it doesn’t seem like it would be all that important to anybody else.”

Holden barely held back a snort of derision, and I kicked him again. “I forgot to pick up my scone in all the excitement,” I said, staring at him. “Can you please go to the counter to get it for me?”

The way he set his jaw told me he wasn’t happy, but he got up anyway.

“He’s intense,” Gentry murmured, and I wished he hadn’t. He didn’t know Holden could hear everything from a distance.

He’d be listening, too. I would’ve bet anything on it.

“Yes, he’s very protective,” I covered. “I’ve had some difficult times lately. He’s sort of my bodyguard right now.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have made light of it.”

“You didn’t know.”

Good. He probably thinks I’m a spoiled heiress who needs protection. I would rather him think that than know the truth.

Since when did I want to hide who I was?

He took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “I should go. He obviously doesn’t want me around, and I understand that.”

“No, please, don’t.” I’ve been waiting for you. I’ve been looking for you. Don’t leave me now.

He stood anyway, but smiled. “I want to see you again. Tonight. Seven o’clock. We’ll have dinner.”

“Where?” I asked.

He chuckled at himself. “I haven’t been in town for so long, I don’t know any of the good places anymore.”

“It’s always changing, isn’t it? Do you like sushi?”

“I practically lived on it out in LA,” he grinned.

I gave him the name of my favorite spot, and we agreed to meet there.

He was still smiling when he walked past the window on his way down the street.

“You got rid of him,” Holden muttered, dropping the scone in front of me.

“Don’t act like you weren’t listening to every word we said when you were gone.”

“Sushi,” he scowled.

“You’re not coming in with me.”

“Like hell, I’m not.”

“You are not. Coming in. With me.”

We glared at each other.

“I mean it, Holden. What did I just remind you of before we got here?”

“You don’t have to remind me again,” he growled.

His nostrils flared as he breathed harder, and I knew I was pushing him to his limit. Then again, he was pushing me to mine.

I tried another tactic. “Listen. I know this is new for us. I haven’t been on a date while you’ve been in my service. There’s bound to be friction when something like this happens.”

“Suddenly you’re diplomatic,” he muttered with a wry, humorless smile.

“I’m trying to be. I can drop the diplomacy in a heartbeat if it would make you feel better.”

“No, no, by all means.” He growled under his breath. “I don’t like him. There’s something I can’t put my finger on.”

“You’ll have to deal with that on your own,” I informed him, flipping my hair over one shoulder and turning my attention to the scone.

I wasn’t even hungry. My stomach was too full of butterflies.

He was real.

And his name was Gentry.

And I felt like a teenager again.